Vic energy discounts don't always work

Victoria's Essential Services Commission has released data showing a household could pay the same price with two different retailers despite one offering double or triple the discount.

"You could pay retailer A, on a 10 per cent discount, the same amount as you would pay another retailer on a 30 per cent discount for the same amount of energy," commission chairman Ron Ben-David said in a statement on Tuesday.

"When the offers appear to be very different but essentially cost the same, there's no transparency for the customer."

The commission also found an increasing number of customers are being disconnected for not paying their electricity or gas bills.

Between April and June, 8559 customers were disconnected over unpaid electricity bills - a jump of 46 per cent from the same period last year.

And more than 5000 gas customers were disconnected in the three months leading to June, representing a 28 per cent increase from the year before.

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The commission's audit of 15 retailers and seven distributors also found poor maintenance or documentation of customer records and staff training, as well as inadequate oversight for outsourced staff and inaccurate self-reporting on business performance.

Last month, a separate, independent review of Victoria's gas and electricity markets found increased competition and deregulation had failed customers who, on average, are paying 21 per cent more for electricity a year compared with the cheapest offer on the market.

The state government says it commissioned that earlier review out of concern about retailer practices and would respond to its recommendations by the end of the year.

"The Labor Government has also made it harder for retailers to disconnect customers and has increased the fines for disconnections made in error," a government spokesman said.

"This is why we've seen a drop in wrongful disconnections, with disconnections still below the record levels seen under the previous government."